Sunday 25th May saw the second match of the Nottinghamshire County Development League held at Mansfield Berry Hill Park track. As is becoming typical for a competition at Mansfield, weather conditions were mixed, with a howling gale blowing into athletes faces on the home straight. Overall, numbers across all the competing clubs were down at this match, in part due to the Bank Holiday and half-term holidays, with the number of AVEAC athletes again impacted by the clash with Upper YDL. That said, the club was still able to field a group of seven athletes, with George Reynolds and Scott Ram joining first match participants Alice Robinson, Charlie Yates, Dan Humphrey, Heather Douglas and George Wilkinson in donning their yellow vests.
Track Events
Three of the group laced up their spikes to compete in the 100m heats, with the two George’s running directly against each other in heat one. George R set the quickest time of the day, crossing the finishing line in an impressive 11.9 seconds, with George W just 0.4 seconds back in third place, with a new personal best time of 12.3 seconds. Charlie was the third of the AVEAC runners in the 100m, coming second in her heat in a time of 13.7 seconds. Following the conclusion of the final 100m race, Scott lined up in the first of the 400m heats. Starting in one of the inner lanes, he cruised past his competitors along the back straight into a comfortable lead, crossing the line in first place in a time of 50.0 seconds, nearly 4 seconds ahead of second.
Field Events
Alice led a quartet of AVEAC throwers in the Shot Put, recording a best throw of 10.02m from her six trials. Dan struggled to find any kind of consistency due to an injury and recorded a disappointing best of 8.57m before withdrawing from the competition. Charlie spurred on by the promise of a reward for a PB in the event came agonisingly close to her £5 prize with a best throw of 7.34m, whilst Heather did manage to record a new personal best throw of 6.62m. Alice and Heather also competed in the Hammer together, where Alice recorded a new personal best distance of 23.39m, whilst Heather was just centimetres off her own PB, with a best of 19.56m. In addition to these and completing her own personal throws quadrathlon Alice competed in both the Discus and Javelin too, where she recorded 30.38m with her spear, and a new PB of 25.82m with her discus. Away from the infield, three of the group took part in the Long Jump, where George R again set the standard with a best leap of 6.68m, although this was recorded as wind assisted. Heather recorded a best jump of 4.10m from her six trials, with Alice jumping a best of 3.98m from four trials, before running over to compete in the Discus. The final event of the day was the High Jump, which saw George W, Charlie and Alice going up against each other. In his first time competing in the event since 2019, George W finished the contest with an impressive new personal best leap of 1.75m. As at the previous match in Newark, Charlie bowed out with a best clearance of 1.50m, unable to repeat her 1.55m recorded in the Northern League a couple of weeks prior. Alice, no doubt exhausted from criss-crossing Berry Hill Park to simultaneously compete in multiple events, recorded a best jump of 1.20m.
Summary
Even with a couple of faces missing from the first match, it is encouraging that AVEAC were again able to field seven athletes for this outing. With those missing expected to return at the third match at the YMCA Community and Activity Village in Newark on Sunday 6th July, and several new athletes indicating their availability for that match, it’s hoped a group of ten or more will be in attendance.
Report – Dan Humphrey, Images – Alice Robinson, Dan Humphrey